The use of the noble gases in low pressure electric discharge tubes, and at very low pressures in electrodeless glow lamps, is well known. For example, mixtures of the noble gases can provide metastable electronic states of the atoms permitting reduction of the required break-down voltage to accommodate low-voltage electrical discharges. Also, by changing the relative abundance of the noble gases in the mixture, the color of the discharge can be varied, since both the partial pressures of the gases and the respective energy differences between their ground states and lowest excited states will determine the color observed at a given discharge potential. At higher pressures, the noble gases become increasingly insulating, requiring higher discharge potential, although at very high pressures (&gt;60 atmospheres) they become more conductive.
Capacitors employing gases at relatively high pressures as a dielectric, and inductors are also known in the art. However, the invention described herein represents a new form of this technology, in which the inductor means is intrinsically part of a capacitor designed to effect oscillating or pulsed discharges across its internal dielectric.